The GCN Dig IT Awards celebrate discovery and innovation in government IT -- the cutting-edge technology and creative implementations that are supporting critical missions at all levels of the public sector. Today we are pleased to announce the finalists in our first category: Big Data, Analytics and Visualization.

The projects below, along with the finalists in five other categories, will be profiled in the coming weeks in GCN and on GCN.com and honored in person at the GCN Dig IT Awards Gala on Oct. 13 at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner, Va. The overall winner in each category, as selected by our judging panel of top government IT innovators, will be announced at the Oct. 13 gala.

Finalists for the other categories will be announced over the next several days. Today, however, GCN's congratulations are focused on the six Dig IT Award finalists for Big Data, Analytics and Visualization:

Auction Optimization ModelFederal Communications CommissionThis cloud-based distributed application was developed to support the Incentive Auction -- the FCC's effort to free up valuable spectrum for wireless services. Up to $50 billion in potential revenue exchange is at stake as television broadcasters agree to share or give up spectrum, and the mathematical challenges of managing such an effort are immense. The AOM, simply put, makes the Incentive Auction possible.

Homeland Security Information Network ExchangeDepartment of Homeland SecurityThe Homeland Security Information Network, or HSIN, was created in response to 9/11 Commission recommendations, and for years it has supported information-sharing and counter-terrorism collaboration among local, state and federal agencies. The HSIN Exchange, developed over the past year, is a new tool to take that growing sea of shared information and turn it into more efficient, actionable and trackable intelligence.

National Accuracy ClearinghouseMississippi Department of Human ServicesGeorgia Department of Human ServicesLouisiana Department of Children and Family ServicesAlabama Department of Human ResourcesFlorida Department of Children and FamiliesU.S. Department of AgricultureThe National Accuracy Clearinghouse was designed to spot and prevent "dual participation" in public assistance programs like the federally funded, state-delivered Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. By sharing data among participating states and applying advanced identity analytics, NAC has saved millions during its five-state pilot launch, ensuring that more benefit dollars are available to the truly needy.

NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research DatabaseNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyNational Institute of JusticeFederal Bureau of InvestigationForensic firearm identification is a critical tool for law enforcement, but traditionally it has relied on careful case-by-case comparisons by a trained examiner. The NIST Ballistics Toolmark Research Database is an open-access, crowdsourced solution to help modernize that process. Drawing on ballistics data from the FBI's firearm reference collection and other participating law enforcement agencies, NIST is building a vast collection of high-resolution, 3-D virtual models of fired bullets. This helps law enforcement agencies speed their investigations and gives researchers the data to develop new identification methods to advance the forensics even further.

Patient Movement Item Asset Tracking ProjectAir Mobility Command, U.S. Air ForceFew missions are more important than ensuring military personnel wounded on the battlefield are moved quickly to the medical care they need -- speed saves lives. Successfully transporting and treating those casualties is a logistical feat, with tens of thousands of specialized equipment items that shuttle among more than 100 different "aeromedical evacuation service sites." The Patient Movement Item Asset Tracking Project leverages RFID trackers and an innovative enterprisewide asset management system to ensure the military has the equipment it needs, where it needs it, to best serve wounded warfighters.

Real-Time Automated Parole Data ReplicationNew Jersey State Parole BoardNew Jersey State PoliceFederal Bureau of InvestigationA central function of parole is to supervise parolees and ensure they become long-term law-abiding members of society. Yet many agencies lack the data to do so and must rely heavily on self-reporting by the parolees themselves. In New Jersey, the State Parole Board and State Police have developed an automated system to share data in real time -- ensuring that police officers are aware of parole status at the time of an encounter, and that parole officers will know the incident took place. And because the data goes into the National Crime Investigation Center's Supervised Release File, the information is also available to law enforcement agencies nationwide.

About the Author

Troy K. Schneider is editor-in-chief of FCW and GCN, as well as General Manager of Public Sector 360.

Prior to joining 1105 Media in 2012, Schneider was the New America Foundation’s Director of Media & Technology, and before that was Managing Director for Electronic Publishing at the Atlantic Media Company. The founding editor of NationalJournal.com, Schneider also helped launch the political site PoliticsNow.com in the mid-1990s, and worked on the earliest online efforts of the Los Angeles Times and Newsday. He began his career in print journalism, and has written for a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Slate, Politico, National Journal, Governing, and many of the other titles listed above.

Schneider is a graduate of Indiana University, where his emphases were journalism, business and religious studies.